True Friends Never Lie, Even When They Should
by Nemesis13
Summary: Natalia Mikhailov was a Pure-Blood witch sheltered nearly her entire life from the outside world, that is until her father sent her to Hogwarts in hopes that she grew into her own person. While unsure, she chose to do her best and befriended Harry Potter, who she thought was an ignorant muggle-born. Honestly, if she had known the truth? She probably would have run away screaming.


**So, I got invited to a private Role Play and I invented a character that kinda demanded I write her introduction. I'm so use to writing slightly over powered, over bearing, larger than life characters. So writing someone who isn't really that powerful, not really that important, and not really part of the Great Machine, yet makes a difference just by being there?**

 **It's...neat**

 **So, while I have no idea where this may go, I hope you all enjoy this indulgence and have fun with the slightly jaded Miss Natalia Mikailov.**

 **Edit-Special thanks to Lady Lily Anne for reminding me about the** **patronymics involved with Russian names, also I'm driving the poor woman insane with yet another story.**

 **Seriously how does she put up with my bullshit like this?**

* * *

London was quite a bit like Moscow, in that it was loud, dirty, crowded, and made one Natalia Nikolayevna Mikhailov deeply uncomfortable. The eleven year old girl wrapped her arms around her kitten more tightly than she should have, while порочный growled in annoyance at the gesture.

"Sorry Vicious," she mumbled to the kitten as her father laid a hand on her back guiding her towards the human walls, the Russian aristocrat expertly weaving them through the crowds with the experience of a well traveled businessman.

"My little цветок, are you not excited to go to Hogwarts?"

She wasn't, not in the slightest actually. She had been forced to live a sequestered life in a cold empty manor until she was ten, then by the insistence of her mother was thrown at her extensive extended family without warning and forced to adapt to them.

None of who seemed to realize that she was an introvert who was freaking out that her bubble of privacy was being horrifically violated, and was soon dragged out to interact with people she had never met before. All of whom seemed to know significantly more about her than she did them.

Why, why oh why could no one respect the bubble?

"Of course Papa, I am just tired is all," as anxious as she was she couldn't bring herself to upset her father. He had been the only warmth in her life, the only one who really cared and understood her, thus she did her best to alleviate any anxieties he himself had sending her off to school. So she would do as her wretch of a mother had taught her, and lie, to if nothing else save her father's worries for later.

"Ah yes, it was an early start for us wasn't it? Well, we're here. Apparently entering Platform 9 3/4 alone is a bit of a tradition, so my darling this is where we part. Write me every week yes?" Accepting her shrunken trunk from her father as she slipped it into her pocket Natalia sobbed once as she was pulled into her kneeling father's embrace, Vicious once again yowling in annoyance.

"I promise Papa, and if you get lonely write me, da?"

He chuckled as he stood ruffling her raven black her slightly with his free hand, "Da, of course. Now have fun, try and make friends, but remember the first rule of our family."

She nodded solemnly at that, "Everyone is out for themselves, and so are you..." With a sad smile her father nodded and pointed at a nondescript pillar behind her.

"Лучший студент, которого я когда-либо имел, now go dearest..."

Taking in a deep breath Natalia turned around and entered the portal, and gasped lightly when she appeared upon a sunny platform housing a massive cherry red steam engine followed by countless passenger cars. The corners of her lips quirked up as she took in the sights and she couldn't help skipping a bit as she approached the entry ramp.

While she had no desire to interact with the other children fate soon arranged for her to find herself colliding with a very confused boy with messy black hair and mesmerizing green eyes. He adjusted his taped together glasses and turned to her looking highly embarrassed as he scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry wasn't looking where I was going, it's all quite a bit to take in isn't it?" She assessed his appearance in a moment, broken glasses, tatty clothes, scar on his forehead.

Obviously a classic abused muggle-born.

Her father had told her they were not rare in the slightest, that most muggles treated their magically capable offspring with distrust and hatred, that they resented their offsprings natural superiority over them.

The poor boy.

"It's quite all right, I should have been watching where I was going," she replied while giving him a brief curtsy even with Vicious still in hand, the boy grinned and bowed lightly in return. It was messy, but the fact that he bothered immediately earned him points in Natalia's book.

"Ditto, I barely found out how to even get in here, had to follow a herd of redheads in, my name is Harry, by the way, Harry Potter."

Natalia cocked her head to the side as she observed his offered hand knowing full well the boy did not recognize the violation of decorum he had just displayed. You only offered a hand in a gesture of alliance, but...well...even if he wasn't aware of what he was doing having an ally in this foreign school couldn't be a bad thing, could it?

Taking his hand she shook it gently and felt the magic around them surge for a moment as she returned the greeting, "Natalia Nikolayevna Mikailov, a pleasure to meet you."

He turned back to the train and huffed as he pulled his trunk along, the snowy white owl perched on its top clacking her beak in annoyance as the rickety cart rolled over the uneven cobblestones.

"This is Hedwig by the way, she's the most brilliant owl ever," Harry stated with a definitive nod, Natalia giggled at that while extending her now very grumpy kitten out with both arms.

"This is порочный! Er...rather this is Vicious! He's only six months old but he is super smart!"

As Harry pulled his trunk up the ramp he glanced back at the small kitten while shaking his head slightly, "Something tells me that is an appropriate name... So where are you from? Romania, Russia?"

"Russia," she said with a sigh taking in the passenger car with an analytical eye, "My father wanted me to go to school as far away from home as he could manage. He was hoping for the Americas but this was the best we could do."

Opening an empty cabins door he gestured for her to enter and soon followed her in, leaving the door open he unsteadily tried to put his trunk up on the carriage rack above the seats. Sighing she placed Vicious on the opposite seat and helped Harry manhandle the trunk into place, grinning sheepishly he ran his hand through his messy hair again while shaking his head slowly.

"Thanks, so umm...if you don't mind me asking why did your dad want you to go to school away from your family?"

She expected the question, and it was as uncomortable as expected, but he was a muggle-born and obviously wouldn't know better. So she sighed again and scooped up Vicious soon holding him in her lap as she sat opposite of Harry.

"My father pulled a...oh what do you call it...a...French term I think...Something others consider uncouth?"

"A faux pas?" Harry offered, and she smiled in return as she nodded quickly.

"Yeah, something like that. See he was forced into a marriage contract against his will, my mother is...not the nicest person in the world, and is very difficult to live with. So Papa wrote up a magically binding document declaring my exemption from betrothal contracts...that didn't sit well with...err...anyone."

Harry looked deeply confused as he cocked his head to the side, "Marriage contracts? Those are still a thing?" Natalia resisted the urge to sigh, muggle-borns did not take this aspect of their newfound society well in the slightest, father had told her so on multiple occasions.

Typically western muggles viewed the concept of marriage contracts and betrothals to be a couple hundred years out of date, and for a people that sent ships to the moon and walked on the floor of the oceans, it seemed downright barbaric. The fact her father recognized this alone earned the families ire, thankfully being the Head of House exempted him from execution...for now anyway.

"Yes..." she began slowly, "they are still a thing. Thankfully Papa cares more for me then he does decorum, so I'm free to marry who I wish. So he wants me as far away from the family as possible to make sure none of my cousins try to seduce me and force me into an unwanted marriage to claim the family headship."

Harry stared at her blankly for several moment's, and she briefly thought she had broken the boy before he replied in a stilted, incredulous tone.

"Your dad, was worried that _family_ would try to seduce an eleven year old girl and force her into marriage?"

She nodded slowly, "Da, about it really."

Harry stared at her a few more seconds before letting out a tired sigh and seemingly deflated a bit, "What the bloody hell kind of world have I been dragged into?"

She let out a brief giggle before shaking her head slightly, "A very traditional one. I'll give you a bit of advice, you offering your hand to me? That sealed a casual alliance between the two of us, meaning that if someone or something works against you, or myself, we're magically obligated to back each other up. Luckily for you, I needed an ally, and you seem like a nice sort, so you'll have my wand if you need it."

Harry looked flummoxed, furious, then resigned as he shook his head slowly, "And here I thought I had finally made a friend..."

That...hurt...sweet Circe that hurt... Placing Vicious on the bench Natalia stood and slowly approached Harry, sitting next to him she placed her arm around his thin shoulders a moment before speaking.

"I...would like to be your friend. It's obvious you don't know what you're doing here. Heck...I don't know what I'm doing here, everything is different from home but... I know enough. I didn't mean to imply that I tricked you into a contract, really, our allegiance to each other is informal at best. Still...I meant what I said, if you need me, you have my wand, my support, because..."

She sighed and slumped her shoulders looking equally as miserable as Harry, "I've never had a friend...ever...and...I'd like to be yours..."

Harry was silent for a time before he let out a sigh, "Really? Not just using me?"

At that she released his shoulder and shrugged, "My families motto is 'Everyone is out for themselves, and so are you,' yes I'm using you, but...well... You are using me too, we'll use each other so no one else can..."

"Cynical," he bit out, then laughed, "But...acceptable..." They remained in comfortable silence for a time, when a redheaded boy stuck his head in the car breaking their reverie.

"Hey, all the other cabins are full, can I stay in here?" Before Harry could even open his mouth Natalia stood up and curtsied quickly, the gesture showing off her fine robes and family crest causing the boy to pause mid-step as he was entering the cabin.

"I'm afraid we are awaiting our companions and the free spaces are currently reserved, our apologies for the inconvenience." The boy glared at her, stared at Harry, and then huffed slamming the door behind him, taking her place back at Harry's side, and for reasons unknown to her having his blasted owl land on her shoulder she turned to her now contemplative companion.

"Why did you lie?" It wasn't an accusation, just a question, she shrugged a bit as she began running her fingers through Hedwig's feathers ignoring Vicious's jealous growls as he landed in her lap.

"Because he was lying himself, the cars on this train are magically expanding, I read it in 'Hogwarts, A History.' For some reason he wanted to sit with us, and frankly I've learned to avoid anyone who thinks like that...it...it is for the best."

Harry stared at her a few moments before shrugging and relaxing back into his seat. They conversed about random this and thats through their journey to Scotland, mostly Harry asking about magical society and how he was supposed to act as a wizard. To say he was nonplussed at how poorly he had been prepared would be an understatement.

Their bubble of solitude was violated twice though, the first meeting was irritating, the second was not so much.

Draco Malfoy had shown up and had tried to trick Harry into a sworn alliance, and while feeling a bit hypocritical since she had essentially done the same thing Natalia was darkly amused that Harry turned him down politely. "Perhaps at a later date," was certainly open ended enough to save Malfoys pride at least.

The second interruption was honestly a kind of cute interaction; a bushy haired girl who talked more than was acceptable and knew more than was believable dragged a chubby boy into the car with her asking if they had seen said boy's toad. Harry, who had been leafing through Natalia's notes for the past few hours suggested they get a prefect to summon the wayward amphibian which earned a squeaked "Thanks!" from Neville, and an appreciative smirk from Hermione.

Hopefully this would leave a good impression with the pair, since the interactions with the redhead and Malfoy left something to be desired.

"Trains slowing down," Harry stated mildly as he stared out at the darkened skies. Natalia muttered her agreement as she stood up and expanded her trunk with a flick of her wand, quickly shucking her outer robes and swapping them out for a school robe. Harry, much to her honest amusement, simply knocked his trunk off it's perch and let it land on the floor via gravity. Natalia briefly contemplated that there was something innately endearing about Harry's straightforwardness as he ignored the under uniform much like herself, and soon slid off his tatty oversized jumper followed with sliding his outer robe into place.

"This is acceptable for tonight," she told him as he slammed his trunk shut, "but here on out, if you want anyone to take you seriously you need to dress to impress. Wear your uniforms with pride, avoid wrinkles, style your hair, if only slightly to show you had bothered."

Harry gave her a skeptical look and that only made Natalia role her eyes, "Can't and won't."

Harry's brow furrowed as he cocked his head to the side causing her to sigh yet again, "Look presentable, show you're capable of being as pompous as the most prestigious of Pure-Bloods. That way, when you decide you just don't care and just go out in a dirty t-shirt and and a pair of rumpled jeans everyone knows it was because you chose to do so.

"They know you can look good if you want to, you just chose to not care. It is far, far _far_ worse if they think you're an ingrate who is incapable of taking care of himself."

Harry stared at her a few moments before shaking his head slowly, "Good god what would have I done if I hadn't met you?"

Natalia snorted, "Alienated three fourths of the entire student body? Oh...the trains stopped."

What followed was well...interesting to say the least.

* * *

Harry really hadn't known what to expect when he had been left at Kings Cross and told to go to platform 9 3/4's, if his trip to Diagon Alley and his interactions with Hagrid were any indicators, idiocy, idiocy awaited.

In that regard he wasn't disappointed, luckily he was clued into the path of madness by a loud fat woman and her overly verbose discourse with the tiny redheaded girl at her side. Observing the ginger twins and the two other boys sharing their hair color rushing into a concrete pillar, and witnessing them disappear rather than falling on the ground screaming while suffering from obvious concussions Harry had figured the trick out.

So he had confidently sauntered his way into the portal, trunk and Hedwig in tow while casually observing his surroundings.

Having grown up in the real world, the gathered witches and wizards kind of freaked him out with their dressing habits, and not wanting a repeat of Diagon he quickly pulled his bangs down to cover his scar and calmly marched towards the train's egress. Unfortunately his focus on the train meant he ignored his surroundings, which had him cursing himself as he collided with a pale skinned girl with wavy black hair.

Shaking her head her glacial blue eyes met his gaze as she smiled lightly with a slight tilt of her head and he quickly apologized for running into her. The girls acceptance, and then followup tutoring upon taking a cabin together hadn't been expected, in the slightest.

Her running interference on the obvious fanboy, and aggresive support on the attempted sycophant had been deeply appreciated, as well as her silent approval on how he handled the toad incident. His annoyance with his trunk and simply knocking the blasted thing off its rack had amused her, and frankly he was ok with that. Her laugh was nice, it wasn't like back at Privet Drive where all the laughter was at the expense of his pain.

She laughed because his actions amused her, not his pain...it almost didn't compute. After her lambasting him about his appearance, and good god was he never going to _not_ bother using a comb again, they were herded out to the dark where Hagrid was crying for them to take a boat, oddly enough he and Natalia had ended up in the same boat as Hermione and Neville.

As the tiny boats made their way across the lake Hogwarts came into view, the massive castle sitting upon the cliff shining like a beacon in the dark of night. All present were struck silent as they approached their home for the next seven years.

Soon Natalia's mesmerized voice broke their reverie "Это красивее, чем я ожидал... err sorry, it is more beautiful than I expected..." Harry could only nod in agreement as Hermione turned to Neville worrying her fingers through her hair while whispering quietly to him.

"Did you know it was so beautiful?"

His response was just as quiet, yet incredibly swift, "No...but...but I'm glad it lived up to my dreams..."

What followed was kind of a let down, they had some ghosts try and scare them, which for Harry meant nothing, were given a speech about the school's houses, and were soon marched into the Great Hall to be sorted...by a hat.

Honestly Harry had sort of fancied that ginger kid's idea about fighting a troll, having a hat decide where they'd spend the next seven years? Well...fine whatever it was what it was even if it was anti-climatic. If Natalia wasn't fazed by any of this he wouldn't be either.

As the names were called out Harry zoned out a bit, only paying attention when Hermione was placed in Ravenclaw, and Neville in Gryffindor and he honestly hoped the two of them the best, their houses fit them in his opinion. Then his only friend ever was called front and center.

"Mikhailov, Natalia!" Said girl stood straight and approached the sorting stool with the poise of a proper Pure-Blood, she sat daintily and crossed her legs as the Hat was placed on her head. It took a few moments, but eventually the Hat bellowed out, "Slytherin!" and the small ravenette stood and allowed the Deputy Headmistress to take the Hat off her head as she made her way to her new house's table.

"Potter, Harry!" Gulping he stood and met Hermione and Neville's gazes, both of them smiling at him kindly. Taking his seat on the stool while the entire hall muttered to each other he met Natalia's gaze as she nodded to him once, then the hat was placed on his head.

" _My my Mister Potter, you are a deep one aren't you?"_ Oh hell, he was hearing voices in his head, had he finally gone insane?! There was laughter in his mind for a moment before the voice continued, _"No more crazy than others I expect. This is how I place students, many demand to go where they wish, but the best and brightest let me do my job and place them where they **need** to be..."_

Harry thought on that a moment before sighing slowly, he would accept where the hat placed him then, he was an eleven year old wizard, what the hell did he know over an ancient artefact? His interactions with Natalia had already proven his ineptitude in the magical world so why not let this play its course?

" _Ha! Just like your mother, she was brilliant you know, one of my favorites. I was so saddened to hear that Tom murdered her, alas it is what it is, that being said if you're content to let me make my own choices than you belong no where else but-"_

"Slytherin!" Harry grinned as the hat was plucked from his head and he quickly approached a clapping Natalia, sitting beside her he absorbed her happy congratulations and kindness, ignoring the rest of the hall in the process.

That may not have been a good thing, since 3/4's of the schools students were not clapping for him as the previous students had been, and he was being glared at by more than one professor. The exceptions were of course, Natalia, as well as Neville and Hermione, but Harry wouldn't be made aware of that for a bit. Right now, as the sorting finished, he had a feast before him that he hadn't had to prepare for the Dursleys, was allowed to eat his fill, and had a friend whispering in his ear on how to properly present himself.

Harry Potter could honestly say, he had never been happier in his entire life.

If only it would last.

* * *

цветок- _Flower_

Лучший студент, которого я когда-либо имел- _The Best Student I ever had_ **  
**

Это красивее, чем я ожидал.- Literally "It's Prettier than I expected"

 **Thoughts? Please review!**


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